Department of History Samuel C. Chu Memorial Lecture in East Asian Studies: Richard Smethurst, "The (Non) Economic Thinking of Japan's Decision Makers for World War II, 1931-1945"

September 13, 2018

4:00PM - 6:00PM

Ohio Union Maudine Cow Room (1739 N. High Street)

Add to Calendar 2018-09-13 16:00:00 2018-09-13 18:00:00 Department of History Samuel C. Chu Memorial Lecture in East Asian Studies: Richard Smethurst, "The (Non) Economic Thinking of Japan's Decision Makers for World War II, 1931-1945" OSU's Department of History presents the Samuel C. Chu Memorial Lecture in East Asian Studies with:Richard SmethurstProfessor Emeritus, Department of HistoryUniversity of Pittsburgh"The (Non) Economic Thinking of Japan's Decision Makers for World War II, 1931-1945"Bio: Professor Smethurst has a contract with Cambridge University Press to write a book on the Japanese military and World War II. This was the subject of his 2012 conference, Japan’s War in Asia: 70 Years Later. Why did Japan go to war in 1937 with a country with a population seven times its, and when that war was not won, attack a country with an industrial capacity nine times its? And how did the Japanese military fight this war once it began?He also has begun a project to study the modern history of the nô theatre in modern Japan. How did a theatre form that was closely associated with the feudal order before the Meiji Restoration, revive itself in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries? His study will look into such subjects as the relationship of the leading schools of nô actors to the imperial family and the new Japanese nationalism, their finances, their internal politics, and their dealings with the international theatre and art world. As part of this project, he has headed a team at the University of Pittsburgh to create a website of the woodblock prints of TsukiokaKogyo (1869-1927) of noh theatre subjects. Additionally, he is studying the Japanese industrial policy debate of 1884-6. He is particularly interested in the developmental ideas of Maeda Masana, who advocated growing the economy by modernizing traditional industries that produced consumer goods for export and domestic consumption, and by depending on local, not central initiatives and planning. If his ideas had prevailed and Japan had developed from the bottom up rather than from the top down with an emphasis on building military power, mightprewar Japan have developed in a more democratic way and avoided World War II? Reception 4:00 – 4:30 p.m.Lecture 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.Questions - contact Rhonda Maynard at maynard.20@osu.edu Ohio Union Maudine Cow Room (1739 N. High Street) OSU ASC Drupal 8 ascwebservices@osu.edu America/New_York public

Add to Calendar 2018-09-13 16:00:00 2018-09-13 18:00:00 Department of History Samuel C. Chu Memorial Lecture in East Asian Studies: Richard Smethurst, "The (Non) Economic Thinking of Japan's Decision Makers for World War II, 1931-1945" OSU's Department of History presents the Samuel C. Chu Memorial Lecture in East Asian Studies with:Richard SmethurstProfessor Emeritus, Department of HistoryUniversity of Pittsburgh"The (Non) Economic Thinking of Japan's Decision Makers for World War II, 1931-1945"Bio: Professor Smethurst has a contract with Cambridge University Press to write a book on the Japanese military and World War II. This was the subject of his 2012 conference, Japan’s War in Asia: 70 Years Later. Why did Japan go to war in 1937 with a country with a population seven times its, and when that war was not won, attack a country with an industrial capacity nine times its? And how did the Japanese military fight this war once it began?He also has begun a project to study the modern history of the nô theatre in modern Japan. How did a theatre form that was closely associated with the feudal order before the Meiji Restoration, revive itself in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries? His study will look into such subjects as the relationship of the leading schools of nô actors to the imperial family and the new Japanese nationalism, their finances, their internal politics, and their dealings with the international theatre and art world. As part of this project, he has headed a team at the University of Pittsburgh to create a website of the woodblock prints of TsukiokaKogyo (1869-1927) of noh theatre subjects.  Additionally, he is studying the Japanese industrial policy debate of 1884-6. He is particularly interested in the developmental ideas of Maeda Masana, who advocated growing the economy by modernizing traditional industries that produced consumer goods for export and domestic consumption, and by depending on local, not central initiatives and planning. If his ideas had prevailed and Japan had developed from the bottom up rather than from the top down with an emphasis on building military power, mightprewar Japan have developed in a more democratic way and avoided World War II? Reception 4:00 – 4:30 p.m.Lecture 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.Questions - contact Rhonda Maynard at maynard.20@osu.edu  Ohio Union Maudine Cow Room (1739 N. High Street) East Asian Studies Center easc@osu.edu America/New_York public

OSU's Department of History presents the Samuel C. Chu Memorial Lecture in East Asian Studies with:

Richard Smethurst
Professor Emeritus, Department of History
University of Pittsburgh

"The (Non) Economic Thinking of Japan's Decision Makers for World War II, 1931-1945"

Bio: Professor Smethurst has a contract with Cambridge University Press to write a book on the Japanese military and World War II. This was the subject of his 2012 conference, Japan’s War in Asia: 70 Years Later. Why did Japan go to war in 1937 with a country with a population seven times its, and when that war was not won, attack a country with an industrial capacity nine times its? And how did the Japanese military fight this war once it began?

He also has begun a project to study the modern history of the nô theatre in modern Japan. How did a theatre form that was closely associated with the feudal order before the Meiji Restoration, revive itself in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries? His study will look into such subjects as the relationship of the leading schools of nô actors to the imperial family and the new Japanese nationalism, their finances, their internal politics, and their dealings with the international theatre and art world. As part of this project, he has headed a team at the University of Pittsburgh to create a website of the woodblock prints of Tsukioka

Kogyo (1869-1927) of noh theatre subjects.

Additionally, he is studying the Japanese industrial policy debate of 1884-6. He is particularly interested in the developmental ideas of Maeda Masana, who advocated growing the economy by modernizing traditional industries that produced consumer goods for export and domestic consumption, and by depending on local, not central initiatives and planning. If his ideas had prevailed and Japan had developed from the bottom up rather than from the top down with an emphasis on building military power, might

prewar Japan have developed in a more democratic way and avoided World War II?

Reception 4:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Lecture 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Questions - contact Rhonda Maynard at maynard.20@osu.edu